Ahmedabad: Gujarat govt acquires 62% beds in 45 private hospitals

AHMEDABAD: The state government on Thursday informed the Gujarat high court (HC) that it has acquired 62% of total beds in 45 private hospitals in Ahmedabad after these hospitals were designated Covid-19 care facilities.
In a reply to the HC directions, the government said that in 45 private hospitals, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has reserved 2,048 beds out of total 3,303 beds. This is approximately 62% of the total beds as against the HC’s directions to acquire 50% of total beds in these hospitals. It also said that since some hospitals volunteered to offer 100% of their facilities, the AMC could secure more beds.
Out of 42 hospitals, which were designated earlier, the AMC dropped some hospitals from the list because they were not found equipped to deal with Covid-19 emergency. These hospitals have 2,672 beds, and AMC reserved 1,731 beds from them.
Among the new hospitals like Zydus Hospital, KD Hospital and Columbia Asia, where there are 415 beds in all, the AMC has said that it will reserve 213 beds. These are hospitals which were mentioned in the list of eight hospitals that the HC questioned as to why they were not included in the list. The government also clarified that the list was open-ended, and more hospitals could be acquired if need arose. At present, 415 patients have been admitted to private hospitals on beds reserved by the AMC.
The government has said that there are 2,964 beds available with the government facilities.
The government said that Apollo has agreed to make its City Centre near Parimal Crossing as Covid-19 facility.
VS HOSPITAL IS UNDER REPAIRS: On the HC’s query as to why the AMC does not consider the VS Hospital to convert it into a Covid-19 facility, the state government has said that the VS Hospital is under repair and therefore, it is not possible to use its 500 beds for Covid-19 patients.
Impasse over rates for private patients stays
Ahmedabad: The government informed the HC that the ceiling for rates for private patients in private hospitals, those patients who are not referred by the AMC, has been reduced further by 10%, though the association of private hospitals was not ready for this. They express their inability to reach any conclusion in this regard. It has reduced 10% cap for B Category private beds for wards and HDU, and 5% for two categories — isolation and ICU as well as ventilation and ICU.